Movie Review : The LunchBox (2013)

Rating : Very Good (4.5/5)
Genre : Drama
Year : 2013
Running time : 1 hour 45 minutes
Director : Ritesh Batra
Cast : Irrfan Khan, Nimrat Kaur, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Lilette Dubey, Nakul Vaid
Kidwise : G

The film starts off showing us a young Mumbai housewife Ila (Nimrat Kaur), carefully packing lunch for her husband. The lunch is picked up by a dabbawala and dropped off at her husband’s place of work. Cut to an office-goer opening up his lunch, dabba by dabba (or layer by layer if you please) entranced by the smell. When the lunchbox reaches back to the housewife that very same afternoon, (such is the dabbawala efficiency) she finds to her amazement that it is completely empty, every morsel eaten, as though it had been licked clean.

Ila is extremely happy, we can tell. Later in the evening, the husband (Vaid) returns, and lo and behold! It is not the same man. Her carefully packed lunch has been eaten by a stranger, a fact she realizes as she questions her non-effusive, bored husband. The next day Ila puts in a note to the stranger, and thus begins a story in notes, non-committal and wary at first, but steadily confiding in each other daily musings and infractions. Ila has found a friend in Saajan Fernandes (Irrfan Khan), a reclusive, curt office-worker set to retire very soon.

The Lunch Box is a delicate film, subtle and unhurried, forcing us to pick-up on unseen threads. We come to know of Ila and her family, and the auntie the floor above, who keeps Ila company with her Hindi film music and the sharing of recipes and vegetables. We see Saajan’s lonely life after the death of his wife, and his slow friendship with newcomer Shaikh (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) at the office. And we see his face light up as he reads Ila’s notes.

There are also little flourishes showing us Indian society – little snapshots of life appearing for a few seconds on the screen – Ila’s put-upon mother (Dubey) struggling to pay her husband’s medical bills with a married daughter who is of little help, Shaikh who loves and lives with Mehrunissa much against her families wishes, and Ila herself, helpless and trapped in a loveless marriage. This film treats each character gently, importantly, exposing before us the poignant, hidden details of their lives. There is such delicacy in this film and such hope.

Irrfan Khan is fabulous, and Nimrat Kaur, as the housewife teetering on the verge of giving up, puts up a performance to match his. Nawazuddin Siddiqui is a treasure, giving a gorgeous, finely tuned portrayal of the persistent office-worker who must take over Saajan’s duties on his retirement.

The Lunch Box is a gorgeous, gorgeous film – highly recommended.

Kidwise : Clean. Since this is dialog-heavy and nuance-filled, it might be boring for the little ones.